The case against a Broome County neurosurgeon accused of falsifying his tax returns after sending $820,000 to Pakistani organizations is expected to go to jury trial Dec. 1 in federal court.

Dr. Saeed Bajwa, a neurosurgeon for United Health Services and Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, was indicted Nov. 7, 2013, by a federal grand jury on felony counts of conspiracy and false statements. The indictment followed an FBI probe of the Kashmiri American Council, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., which prosecutors say was a front for Pakistani military intelligence.

The trial date was set last month, after Bajwa and his defense lawyer David Deitch, of Washington, D.C., appeared in U.S. District Court in Virginia. Deitch, who declined comment for this report, has said Bajwa will be vigorously defended in court.

According to federal prosecutors, Bajwa was one of 10 "straw donors" who made contributions and charitable donations on behalf of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, Pakistan's military intelligence service.

The donors were partly reimbursed by the Pakistani government, which had spent 20 years covertly attempting to push U.S. foreign policy toward Pakistani control of Kashmir, a region disputed by Pakistan and India, prosecutors said.

Bajwa, an Endicott resident, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

He has served as director of neurosurgery at UHS since 1995 and, since 2000, as president of the hospital's medical staff. He was born in Pakistan but has lived in the Binghamton area since he finished his medical residency in June 1986. He is also in private practice as a neurosurgeon at Southern New York NeuroSurgical Group, P.C., in Johnson City.

In court records, federal prosecutors sketched out an alleged conspiracy that resulted in the charges.

The Kashmiri American Council lobbies for and holds events to promote the cause of self-determination for Kashmir, officials said.

The group's activities are primarily financed by Pakistani military intelligence, the FBI said when the investigation was announced in July 2011.

The alleged conspiracy also involved Zaheer Ahmad, a U.S. citizen who founded the Shifa International Hospital in Pakistan and exerted "significant ... control over its finances," prosecutors said.

Ahmad arranged for the transfer of at least $3.5 million to the Kashmiri American Council from the Pakistani intelligence agency through the "straw donors" between 1990 and 2011, according to the indictment. Ahmad died in Pakistan in 2011.

The Kashmiri American Council's director, Syed Ghulam Nabi Fai, also was charged with receiving funds for the organization via money transfers from the "straw donors" at Ahmad's request, prosecutors said.

The "straw donors" were reimbursed for money transfers through funds Fai received from the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, prosecutors said.

As part of the conspiracy, Fai provided the "straw donors" letters that stated money transferred to the Kashmiri American Council was tax deductible, court papers said.

Fai pleaded guilty to federal charges of conspiracy and endeavoring to impede administration of the tax laws. He was sentenced in March 2012 to two years in federal prison.

Bajwa served on Shifa International Hospital's board of directors since 2006, prosecutors said.

He is accused of fraudulently claiming tax deductions for at least $230,000 in money transfers to the Pakistani hospital between 1993 and 2010, but then receiving partial reimbursement for the transfers, prosecutors said.

He is also accused of fraudulently claiming tax deductions for about $590,000 that he transferred to the Kashmiri American Council between 1991 and 2011, but also had received partial reimbursements, prosecutors said.

Reimbursements were made in the form of stock shares in the Pakistani hospital, according to the indictment.

The indictment also alleges Bajwa made false statements to federal government representatives about his receipt of reimbursements for contributions to the Kashmiri American Council.

If convicted of the federal charges, Bajwa could be sentenced up to 10 years in prison. Deitch has said he is confident that Bajwa's reputation will be cleared.

"Dr. Bajwa's donations and investments in Pakistan have assisted in the building of world-class hospitals that provide quality medical care that was not previously available in that country," Deitch said in an email statement on March 20.

The attorney added: "His donations have also helped to create more than 400 schools that provide badly needed secular education to Pakistani children."